Professor Dr Faisal Rafiq is an expert in glass-based integrated optical devices for use in telecommunication and sensing application. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journals, articles and conference papers on optics and engineering education with a Scopus H-index of 20 and a total citation of more than 1700. He has established Integrated Lightwave Research Group and his work in flat fibre patent has won Gold Award in the category of the Best for Physical Sciences and Engineering, the Best of the Best Top Prize at UM EKSPO 2009 and also won the top prize in Malaysia Science Academy’s Innovation Award during the 5th Exposition on Islamic Innovation i-INOVA 2014. Besides that, his research on dengue detection with his team and University Ottawa was featured in reputable high impact journals and media, such as Nature Science and Laser Focus World. This led to his recognition for Malaysia Toray Science and Technology Award in 2017. Professor Dr Faisal Rafiq served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor of University Malaya from 2013-2018. In 2017 and 2018, UM was awarded the Most Sustainable (Greenest) City Centre University in Asia by UI Green Metric due to his relentless effort in implementing better water and waste management, as well as spearheading more research and education in sustainable development. He successfully commercialised his research through his spin-off company, Flexilicate Sdn Bhd, which was founded in 2015. The company markets fibre fabrication services, micro-capillaries and fibre-based dosimeters. This spin-off company was recognised as the Best Asean University Start-up at the inaugural Rice Bowl Start-up award in the same year. In the following year, the company and its collaborator, the University of Southampton, won the prestigious Dengue Tech Challenge grant worth RM1.9 million. The company was able to use the grant to support collaborative projects with experts from Malaysia and UK, which was also jointly organised and supported by Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, British Council, PlatCOM Ventures Sdn Bhd, SME Corp and Innovation Agency Malaysia.